Method of delivering information to cellular terminal and information delivery server

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides local information indispensable for travelers or the like and serves as a guide satisfying the travelers&#39; tastes at places where the travelers are staying on their journeys. Positional information is detected from an information request signal transmitted from a cellular terminal, and when the cellular terminal is within a specific area, information corresponding to the specific area is delivered to the cellular terminal in a form of a quiz or a game. Further to a response from the cellular terminal for the information delivered to the cellular terminal, a result record is delivered, and when the cellular terminal is not within the specific area, information other than that corresponding to the specific area is delivered. When giving a point according to the result, a point for the information corresponding to the specific area is set at a higher value as compared to that for the information other than that corresponding to the specific area.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of delivering to a cellularterminal in a specific area various types of information correspondingto the specific area and a server for delivering the information.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY

In the conventional technology, the information inputted from a cellularterminal such as a cellular telephone has no connection to a position ofthe terminal receiving the information, but in association with therecent improvements in functions of cellular terminals, for instance, ina system for automatically reporting a position of a taxi like that asdisclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-82199“Vehicle Allocation System”, a value of input information integratedwith positional information has been appreciated. In the technologies asdescribed above, the value of positional information itself indicating alocation has been appreciated, and the technologies do not contribute tomaking the value of input information itself higher by simultaneouslymaking use of the input information from a cellular terminal and thepositional information in the combined form.

The local information delivery system for delivering information for acurrent position disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.HEI 9-172672 “Simplified Cellular Telephone System” may be regarded as aprototype of the present “town navigation” system , but this systemprovides only the related information linked to the positionalinformation.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-215231

“Travel Planning Assisting Apparatus, Travel Information DeliveringApparatus, and Terminal Device for Delivering Travel Information” isrelated to an invention for delivering travel information, and this is aconvenient travel planning assisting apparatus which displays, when auser inputs a destination and a travel schedule, the local informationor travel information relating to the destination, or displays aplurality of types of local information or travel information centeringon event information corresponding to the inputted travel schedule.However, this invention is only the supplementary system for the workswhich have been performed by travel agencies, and this system does notprovide any specific pleasure to travelers.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method of delivering information to acellular terminal for providing local information indispensable for atraveler together with pleasures, guiding the traveler in accordancewith the traveler's schedule and interests as well as for giving notonly good memories but also advices after the travel so that thetraveler will visit the site again in the future.

The method of delivering information to a cellular terminal according tothe present invention is characterized in that positional information isdetected from an information request signal transmitted from a cellularterminal, and also in that, when it is determined that the cellularterminal is within a specific area, information corresponding to thespecific area is delivered to the cellular terminal in the form of aquiz or a game. To smoothly give an answer to the quiz or carry out thegame, it is preferable to deliver information relating to theinformation corresponding to the specific area.

Preferably a result record is delivered in response to an answer to theinformation delivered to the cellular terminal from the cellularterminal. When the cellular terminal is not within the specific area,preferably information other than information corresponding to thespecific area is delivered. Further information for guiding the nearestspecific area may be delivered. When assigning a point to the result,preferably a point for the information corresponding to a specific areais set at a higher value as compared to a point for the informationother than that corresponding to the specific area.

An information delivery server according to the present invention isconnected through a network to a server capable of acquiring positionalinformation for a cellular terminal and managing the cellular terminal,and delivers information to the cellular terminal in the form of a quizor a game, and the information delivery server comprises a database forlocal information to nation-wide areas, a database for local informationto a specific area, a database for quiz or game, and a database forpositional information. Preferably the information delivery serverfurther comprises a database for point information.

The term of “specific area” as used herein indicates an area specifiedby an information supplier having the information delivery server suchas an administrative zone, an area, a tourist site, a skiing ground, agolf course, an amusement park, a building, and an electric wavereceivable area.

Namely, prepared in the information delivery server according to thepresent invention are information delivered regardless of a site foranswering in the form of a quiz or a game, and information delivered toa specified point in the form of a quiz or a game. Which of the twotypes of information described above is to be used is decided by a user,but the information in the form of a quiz or a game to which a user cangive an answer is delivered by automatically determining a location ofthe user. Preferably a high point should be assigned to a correct answerto a quiz within a specific area.

By analyzing a result of an answer to the quiz and delivering ordisplaying a message assessing the answer, it is possible not only topromote access to the information registered in the information deliveryserver, which is a main purpose, but also to develop the transitional orimpetuous action such as a travel into the repeated or intended action.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general explanatory view showing outline of an informationdelivery method according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an image showing the operational sequence when acquiring localinformation with a cellular terminal;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing the processing sequence in aninformation delivery server;

FIG. 4 is a table used when selecting questions to be delivered to auser;

FIG. 5 is an image showing the operating section until selection of aquestion from a question mail delivered to the user;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the processing sequence for assessingan answer in the information delivery server;

FIG. 7 is a reference table used in assessing an answer;

FIG. 8 is an example of a display of an advice message including aresult of assessment; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing an operating sequence for generating anadvice message in the information delivery server.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Presently preferred embodiments of the present invention are describedin detail below with reference to the related drawings.

FIG. 1 is a general explanatory view showing an outline of a method ofdelivering nation-wide local information and local information for aspecific area to a cellular terminal in the form of a quiz or a game.

In FIG. 1, an information delivery server (110) owned by an informationprovider and a server (140) for cellular terminals are connected to eachother via a network (160) such as the Internet, and the informationdelivery server (110) comprises a data base for nation-wide localinformation (111) transmitted nationally, local information (112) for aspecific area transmitted to the specific area, quiz (or game)information (113), and position/point information (114). Shown in alower section of FIG. 1 are a specific area (120) such as a tourist spotwhich is a destination for a travel, a cellular terminal (150 b) carriedby a user within the specific area (120), an area (130) other than thespecific area (120), and a cellular terminal (150 a) carried by a userwithin the area (130), and these cellular terminals (150 a, 150 b) areconnected to the server (140) for cellular terminals. The server (140)has the functions for managing the cellular terminals and also foracquiring data concerning the locations of the cellular terminals. In acellular information terminal such as a cellular telephone based on theconventional technology, because of the mobility specific to a cellularterminal, it is difficult to identify the location, but in associationwith the recent advances in the field of positional informationtechnology, it is relatively easy to identify the location, and theprecision like that in the car navigation system can be expected in thefuture.

A user of the terminal (150 a) can acquire a point (or a ranking) byanswering a question based on quiz information (113) delivered from theinformation delivery server (110). The question can easily be answeredby referring to the nation-wide local information (111), so that accessto the local information (111) is promoted.

On the other hand, the contents prepared in the terminal (150 b) withinthe specific area (120) are selected from the local information (112)for the specific area, or those capable of being used for setting aquestion based thereon to a user within the specific area (120). Furtherthe question should specifically be prepared so that the questioninginformation is useful as a guidance for the area, and the point given toa user who gives a correct answer to the question is set at a highervalue as compared to those acquired in the other area (130) forpromoting utilization of this system within the specific area (120).

FIG. 2 schematically shows an operating sequence when a user havingmoved into the specific area (120) tries to acquire local informationwith the cellular terminal (150 b), and this figure shows in the shiftorder from the left to right a screen (210), a screen (220), a screen(230), and a screen (240). Reverted sections (211, 221) indicate itemsselected during the shifting operation. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showingthe processing sequence in the information delivery server (110).Operations by a user (310) and screen displays on the cellular terminalcorresponding to the user's operations are shown in the left side of thefigure.

After the user arrives at the site, the user enters a passwordpreviously specified from the cellular terminal (150 b) according to thenecessity, sequentially switches the default menu screen (210) showingthe “Nation-wide tourist spot information” to the “Get with a quiz”screen (220), and then “Answer at the site!” screen (230), and thenselects and inputs “Participation style” for the day. With response tothe sequential operations, information indicating “Who, when, where, andin which participation style the user entered the “Answer at the site!”program” is sequentially transmitted to the information delivery server(110). Namely, in FIG. 3, when the user (310) clicks on “Answer at thesite” (311) and then selects and clicks on any participation style(312), the information is transmitted to the information delivery server(110). In this step, the positional information for the cellularterminal is attached by the server (140) during passage of theinformation through the server for cellular terminals (140). After theoperations described above, when the user selects and clicks on, forinstance, the “Next question”, the sequential operations can berepeated.

The information delivery server (110) queries (321) the received signalto the all registered member accumulating section (322) to determinewhether the signal is from a registered member or not, and when it isdetermined that the signal is not from a registered member, theinformation delivery server (110) sends (313) a message for asking theuser (310) to participate in the information delivery service to ascreen of the terminal carried by the user. On the other hand, when itis determined that the signal is from a registered member, theinformation delivery server (110) identifies the transmission area fromthe positional information data included (323) in the signal, and alsochecks whether the area has been registered in the system or not. Inthis checking step, the information delivery server (110) makes a queryto a positional information accumulating section (325) in which thepositional information and area information have been stored as adatabase, converts (324) the positional information to the areainformation, and further makes a query to the area data accumulatingsection (326) to determine whether the area information is for aregistered area or not.

When it is determined that there is no registered area data, a messageindicating that the current area is not a registered one is returned tothe user (310), and displayed (314) on a screen of the user's terminal.On the other hand, when it is determined (323) that there is registeredarea data, the “From center” screen (240) is displayed (315) to noticestart of questioning.

The user (310) having noticed the screen (240) knows that there is thedata for “Answer at the site”, and waits for arrival of a question mailto the user's cellular terminal.

The information delivery server (110) displays (315) the screen (240)for noticing questioning, and then extracts (327) a question to be givento the user. In this processing for extraction (327), the informationdelivery server (110) makes a query to an area-specific question dataaccumulating section (328) in which questions are registered so that thequestions are given to users only in the specified area, and selects(329) a question to be given to the user after it is determined thatthere are registered questions. In this processing (329) for selecting aquestion to be given to a user, the information delivery server (110)selects a question from the area-specific question data accumulatingsection (328) according to a prespecified rule described hereinafter,makes a query to a registered member questioning record accumulatingsection (330) in which the questions given to the user in the past areregistered to determine whether the selected area-specific question wasgiven to the user in the past or not, so that only a question not havingbeen given to the user is selected. This configuration is employedbecause this information service must be useful as a guidance for thearea and the same guidance information should not be given repeatedly,and also to prevent one question from being given repeatedly during oneoperation (or within a day).

The information delivery server (110) then determines (331), byreferring to a condition (332) for the number of questions to be givento the user, whether the number of selected questions are within a rangepreset for the selected question or not.

In this step, when it is determined that the number of selectedquestions is not appropriate (=0), an instruction for changing theconditions for “preset rule” is issued, and the system control returnsto the processing (327) for extracting the question(s) to be given tothe user. When the number of selected question is reduced to that withinan appropriate range, the system control shifts to a step of processing(333) for generating a questioning screen, and a screen display is givenso that a request for display can be accepted anytime from a cellularterminal, and the screen display is stored until an answer is returnedfrom the user. Also a mail for notifying the first question (questioningmail) is generated in this step and transmitted (334) to the cellularterminal, and the questioning mail is displayed (316) on the user'scellular terminal.

As for the preset rule described above, various conditions may be set,and the condition setting is executed, for instance, by referring to atable (40) shown in FIG. 4. In this table (40), a participation style(47) inputted from the user is regarded as a first condition forselection, and when a plurality of conditions are selected in the samecategory, those with higher priorities among the priority orders (45)may be selected (for instance, five questions for five specifiedcategories). When it is determined (331) that the number of selectedquestions is not appropriate (=0) and reselection is executed, thepriority orders (45) may be reduced by one respectively. Further, whenthe priorities (45) are exhausted, the time for questioning is queriedto the system time, and a question allowable within the system time maybe selected.

The sequence of operations from delivery of a questioning mail untilselection of a question is described below with reference to FIG. 5.

When a user receives a questioning mail, the questioning mail isdisplayed on the user's cellular terminal. The mail (510) includes a URL(511) for the first question page together with an explanatory text,which is linked to the question page. Various categories are listed inthis default page (520) of this URL, and the user answers the questionby selecting (521) one among the categories so that a question (530) isdisplayed, and also by selecting (531) one among a plurality of choices.In this embodiment of the present invention, a question is not directlydisplayed in a mail so that the user can answer the question anytime forthe user's convenience. Namely, with this configuration, the user canacquire information relating to the question or can talk with anyone byusing a cellular terminal which the user carries before answering thequestion given in the mail, and then the user can return to the defaultpage (520) or the question (530) easily. Therefore, if there is no needfor considering the user's convenience, the questioning screen may havethe HTLM form.

A method of assessing an answer and a method of counting a point aredescribed below with reference to FIG. 6. When the user (310) clicks(611) on an answer, namely when a choice is inputted (531) in FIG. 5, asignal including the answer is transmitted via the server for cellularterminals (140) to the information delivery server (110). In this step,positional information data is added to the signal like in the case ofthe information request signal described above. In the informationdelivery server (110), the answer data in the received signal isassessed (631). The server (110) queries the answer to the answeraccumulating section (632) in which correct answers (72) areaccumulated. When it is determined that the answer is not correct, amessage indicating that the answer is not correct is transmitted anddisplayed (612) on the user's cellular terminal. Prepared in the answeraccumulating section (632) is a query table 70 as shown, for instance,in FIG. 7, and this table 70 comprises a question column (71), a correctanswer column (72), a correct answer point column (73), a positionsetting column (74), and a position-specific point column (75).

When the message indicating that the answer is not correct is sent tothe user, whether the user passes this question or challenges thequestion again (613, 633) is asked to the user. When the user chooses topass the question, an operation for extracting a next question (327) isexecuted. When the user chooses to challenge the question again, thesame questioning screen as that displayed previously is displayed again(614), and a response from the user is waited. This loop is repeateduntil the user gives a correct answer to the question or chooses to passthe question. When the user's response for passing the question isqueried, contents with a correct answer and/or public-relationalinformation or other related information included therein may bedelivered to the user.

When it is determined that the user's answer is correct in the assessingstep (631) described above, the positional data in the signal data isqueried to the answer accumulating section (632), and a position of theuser is determined (634). Namely, not only questions, but alsopositional information associated with each question are accumulated inthis answer accumulating section (632). When it is determined as aresult of query that the answering position is not appropriate, amessage indicating the fact is displayed (615). Also in this step,whether the user passes the question or challenges the question again isasked (616, 635) to the user. When the user chooses to pass thequestion, an operation for extracting (327) the next question isexecuted. When the user chooses to challenge the question again, thesame questioning screen as that displayed before is again displayed(617=614), and a response from the user is waited. This loop is repeateduntil the user answers the question at an appropriate position orchooses to pass the question.

In the determining step (634), when it is determined that the answeringposition is correct, a point for the answer is counted, and a result ofcounting is transmitted (636) to and displayed (618) on the user'scellular terminal. A result of assessment is displayed, for instance, asshown in the lower section of the questioning screen (530) shown in FIG.5. This point is summed and accumulated as the user's result record in aresult record accumulating section (637).

Then the information delivery server (110) determines (618) whether apreset number of questions set in association with a previous responsefrom the user has been reached or not, and when it is determined that apreset value has not been reached, or that the time for terminationpreviously set by the user has not come, an operation for selecting(327) the next question is executed. On the other hand, when it isdetermined that the preset value has been reached, a notice indicatingthe termination and a message for announcing the result are sent to theuser and displayed (619) on the cellular terminal, then the processingis finished (639). In this embodiment, even when a user gives anincorrect answer, the user's point is not reduced (namely a minus pointis not given to the user), and the user is allowed to choose forchallenging the question again or passing the question, because thisservice for giving questions in the form of a quiz is provided not forusers to acquire a high assessment, but to contribute to collection ofinformation by users or to serve as a guidance for users in each area sothat the users can collect useful information while enjoying the advicesor the like for inviting the users to visit the area again.

The message for announcing the result is preferably an advice messagefor promoting revisit to the site by users as shown in FIG. 8. In anexample of a message (80) shown in FIG. 8, a message (80 a) having aprespecified format with deformable character data such as a user's name(81), a point associated with a quiz (82), input information for aparticipation style or the like (83), an advice (84) or the likeembedded therein is generated.

A method of generating the advice message is described with reference toFIG. 9.

The user's name (81) can be acquired when the user's password isinputted, and is temporally stored, converted (901) to the respondinguser's name by referring to the user's ID managed in association withthe user's answer in the past, and inserted in the message. Information(902) obtained when the user sets the user's participation style (230)is inserted into the input information indicating the user'sparticipation style (83) or the like.

Then from the questions obtained in response to a quiz and the answeringresult (903), a category selected most frequently is detected (904), andthe category is used for calculating a percentage against the presentnumber of questions (905). Then whether the percentage (N) is larger orsmaller than a preset value (X) is determined (906). The preset value(X) may be any value, and for instance, the preset value (X) is set to30% indicating that three or more answers are correct among 10 questionsin all. This determination indicates the user's taste for the category,and when the user's result is below the preset value (X), adetermination message may be selected not taking into considerations ofthe specific category.

In this determining step (906), a category in which the user's result isover the present value (X) is selected; questions with higher priorities(45) are detected (908) from a result of answers (903); determination ismade as to whether the answers are correct or not (910); and keywords(43) for the questions are obtained only when the answers are notcorrect (911). Based on the information and by using the guessingtechnique, a determination message with high probability is selected(913) from a determination message accumulating section (914), and thedetermination message is inserted into a message with the preset formatas an advice (84).

When there is no appropriate message, a result of determinationconcerning the preset positional information is detected (915). When aresult of determination indicates that the answering position is notappropriate, a screen 917 is displayed. When the result indicates thatthe answering position is appropriate, a keyword (43) for the questionis acquired (911), and an answer determined as correct in an answeringresult correctness determining section (910) is requested with thepriority lowered in the detection processing (908) to acquire theappropriate answer.

The advice message described above has the bidirectionalcharacteristics, and has the effect for inviting tourists to a touristspot which can not be acquired with the one-directional masscommunication media based on the conventional technology.

The information delivery method based on the quiz form was describedabove, but also the information delivery method based on the game formcan be embodied with the substantially same configuration. For instance,a game in which a game character realized by animation gives questionsin a quiz form in succession to a user, or a game in which the gamecharacter gives directions on the route and a point is given to the userwhen the user arrives at a prespecified site may be employed in thismethod.

In the present invention, optimal information can be delivered to acellular terminal within a specific area, and various types ofinformation are provided in a form of a quiz or a game, so that accessto the information can be promoted. Further a plurality of usefuleffects can be provided such as invitation to a specific area such as atourist spot, guidance for the current site, and addition of advices forpromoting revisit to the specific area.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An information delivery method comprising:detecting from an information request signal transmitted from a cellularterminal, positional information included in the signal, delivering froma server to the cellular terminal information in a form of a quiz or agame, said information being selected such that when it is determinedthat the cellular terminal is within a specific area, said informationcorresponds to the specific area, and when it is determined that thecellular terminal is not within said specific area, said informationcorresponds to that other than the specific area, respectively,receiving a response relative to the information from the cellularterminal, setting a score at the server such that an answer to theinformation of the specific area is higher than an answer to theinformation other than the specific area, calculating the score of theresponse, and sending information including the score to the cellularterminal, wherein selecting area specific information is based onpriority order of the information, checking whether the information wasgiven to the user in the past or not to provide information not havingbeen given to the user previously; and wherein said information to bedelivered includes an advice to an incorrect answer, said advice beingobtained by the steps comprising: detecting a category of mostfrequently selected information, calculating a percentage of thecategory in the information, and selecting a determination messagewithout considering the category if the percentage is below apredetermined value, and a determination message using a key word if thepercentage is above the predetermined value.
 2. An information deliveryserver to be connected to a server for managing a cellular terminal andcapable of acquiring positional information for said cellular terminalvia a network, said information delivery server comprising: anation-wide local information database containing nation-wide localinformation, an area-specific local information database containinginformation at a specific area, a quiz or game information databasecontaining information in a form of a quiz or game, a positionalinformation database for obtaining positional information of thecellular terminal, a point information database setting a score suchthat an answer to the information at the specific area is higher than ananswer to the information other than the specific area, and an answeraccumulating section containing a query table including a questioncolumn, answer column, answer point column, and a position settingcolumn, wherein selecting area specific information is based on priorityorder of the information, checking whether the information was given tothe user in the past or not to provide information not having been givento the user previously; and wherein said information to be deliveredincludes an advice to an incorrect answer, said advice being obtained bythe steps comprising: detecting a category of most frequently selectedinformation, calculating a percentage of the category in theinformation, and selecting a determination message without consideringthe category if the percentage is below a predetermined value, and adetermination message using a key word if the percentage is above thepredetermined value.
 3. An information delivery method comprising:detecting from an information request signal transmitted from a cellularterminal, positional information included in the signal, delivering froma server to the cellular terminal information in a form of a quiz or agame, said information being selected such that when it is determinedthat the cellular terminal is within a specific area, said informationcorresponds to the specific area, and when it is determined that thecellular terminal is not within said specific area, said informationcorresponds to that other than the specific area, respectively,receiving a response relative to the information from the cellularterminal, setting a score at the server such that an answer to theinformation of the specific area is higher than an answer to theinformation other than the specific area, calculating the score of theresponse, and sending information including the score to the cellularterminal, wherein said delivering information and receiving response arerepeated for different information, and then, the score is calculated;wherein selecting area specific information is based on priority orderof the information, checking whether the information was given to theuser in the past or not to provide information not having been given tothe user previously; and wherein said information to be deliveredincludes an advice to an incorrect answer, said advice being obtained bythe steps comprising: detecting a category of most frequently selectedinformation, calculating a percentage of the category in theinformation, and selecting a determination message without consideringthe category if the percentage is below a predetermined value, and adetermination message using a key word if the percentage is above thepredetermined value.
 4. The information delivery method according toclaim 3, wherein said server includes a plurality of informationseparated into areas, each information being prepared in a form ofquestion.
 5. The information delivery method according to claim 4,wherein said server checks before delivering one information if the oneinformation was delivered to the cellular terminal being used, anddelivers the one information if the one information was not delivered.6. The information delivery method according to claim 5, furthercomprising, upon receiving the response, checking if the response iscorrect or not, and if the response is not correct, sending a messagewhether the information is repeated or skips.
 7. The informationdelivery method according to claim 1, wherein the key word is obtainedby detecting questions with high priorities in the category, determiningif answers to the questions are correct, and providing the key word ofthe questions if the answers are not correct.
 8. The informationdelivery server according to claim 2, wherein said answer accumulatingsection further contains a position-specific point column.